


One Shield

by LBibliophile



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (trying to make canon work), Alternate Reality, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Bingo Fill, Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Happy Ending, M/M, Outline/Headcanon Format, Retirement, Star Spangled Bingo, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 00:36:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18712918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LBibliophile/pseuds/LBibliophile
Summary: Steve’s ending in Endgame had many logic flaws, in both plot and characterisation but this focuses on answering one in particular:where did the shield Steve gives Sam come from?Because there is one Captain America shield per Captain America Steve Rogers, and his was destroyed. That means that Sam’s shield must have belonged to the younger/alternate Steve. So what happened to him?orMy attempt to fill in plot holes, and make Steve’s canon ‘happy ending’ actually work.Written for the Bucky Barnes Bingo - B5 Fix-it ficWritten for the Star Spangled Bingo - 1:2 Crack fic (because that bit of canon is)





	One Shield

**Author's Note:**

> Is there a level beyond canon-compliant? Because this fic takes canon and tries to fill in some of the gaping plot holes, and give all the relevant characters their stated happy ending.

The final battle against Thanos leaves a ruined shield but a living Captain America.

Steve goes gallivanting off through time returning the Stones, and along the way decides to take a detour and have a life with Peggy. He shows up in the 40s (either just after he crashed or some years later, both have complications with how to explain his presence), finds Peggy, and tells her at least some of the time travel shenanigans he’s been involved with.

First she tells him off; and it takes a while. There’s the whole plane-crash ‘heroic sacrifice’ thing – but look, he’s fine now. Then there’s the fact that he abandoned his friends in the future (especially Bucky!) – but he just couldn’t do it anymore; Tony is gone, and Nat is gone, and he never really fitted anyway. _Then_ there’s his attitude towards meddling with time and alternate realities, selfishly chasing his own ‘happy ending’ (and didn’t he just say she died old and happy, how does he know that getting back together with her wartime fling is better?) – which… fair point, but he had the opportunity and he had to try.

Properly chastened (and bribing her with future knowledge), they start working together and actually get to know each other; eventually ending up dating properly. Using Steve’s fore‑knowledge they manage to find alt!Steve – and the shield – after only months or years instead of decades.

Alt!Steve is surprised to be alive, but meeting Endgame!Steve is far more disconcerting than the comparatively minor time skip. The group dynamics are awkward for a while, but things get at least a bit easier when alt!Steve realises that what he had with Peggy was actually just respect, admiration and a bit of a crush (E!Steve is honestly rather embarrassed by how fast alt!Steve is able to get over it. Given his obsession with returning to the past and Peggy, then her telling off when he arrived… so much for a love for the ages).

At the same time as looking for alt!Steve, they’ve also been trying to find and rescue Bucky. With alt!Steve’s assistance, they finally succeed. Bucky is hurt and traumatised and armless, but still mostly himself; not yet the Winter Soldier. (And, for the second time, E!Steve is thrown for a loop. He hadn’t realised just how much his memories of Bucky had been altered by nostalgia and his strained friendship with E!Bucky; this is still not _his_ Bucky that he’s longed for.) Alt!Steve however, has no problems with supporting Bucky and picks up their friendship right where it left off - and apparently, part of the force behind his crush on Peggy had been denial over his feelings for his best friend. Well then. E!Steve isn’t quite sure what to think about that.

So, now they have one shield, two Captain Americas and two significant others.

Alt!Steve decides to retire. He became Captain America to fight in the war, and now the war is over. He defeated the Red Skull and sacrificed himself to save America; his role is done. Yes, Hydra was only driven underground, but he doesn’t have the skills to chase them out. Besides, Bucky needs him. Bucky, who suffered so much, and only fought for as long as he did because he was following his friend. And what he needs now is Steve’s support, not his vengeance. So Steve drops the shield and the name, and finds other ways to save the world.

E!Steve takes up the shield once more. Captain America is much more integral to his sense of identity; it was all he had to cling to when he woke from the ice, and he’s lived it all the years since then. For all his daydreams of retirement, he doesn’t know how to live without the fight. And it’s not like Peggy would be willing to retire with him, not after all the effort she put into getting where she is. Instead she is spearheading the transition from the SSR to SHIELD; it is easy enough to fold Captain America into the new structure (and he makes very sure that  _this_ SHIELD does not become a breeding ground for HYDRA remnants).

They now have one shield, two couples and two happy endings.

Decades later, E!Steve decides that the world is such that the alt!reality no longer needs a Captain America. Following an old promise he made to himself, he travels (temporarily!) back to the Endgame!reality. He lets them know about the successful completion of all three of his missions—returning the Stones, being Captain America, and getting a life—and passes the shield on to Sam.

One shield, one Captain America, and two Steves enjoying retirement.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, for the purposes of this fic, I'm ignoring Peggy's canon husband. That was one too many players to try and fit in.


End file.
